How do the turbos handle?

[blueorb]

Ok, as some of you now know, I am the proud owner of a '92 gt turbo, it is on its way from Japan and should be with me in 5 weeks. However, many of you have advised me to be careful with it as a newbie to mr2 driving. Also I have read a number of horror stories too.

So whats the deal with mr2 turbo handling, in simple terms?

Will it spin out in straight line acceleration wet or dry roads?

Will it spin out in corners on dry roads?

will it spin out in corners at low speeds on wet roads?

If you keep the revs below 3500 rpm in the wet will it be ok? [-o<

How can a powerful sports car have been matched to a chasis that handles badly, or have I got it wromg?

Please clarify this for me

[DannyW]

Chill out mate, ive had my MR2 for 3 years and drive it every day come rain and shine, hail and even snow. it started as an N/A and since august last year it has been a turbo and to this day i have never experienced a spin, not even nearly, and i do drive it hard sometimes.

Just be careful with it and drive inside your own abilities and it will be fine.



cheers!

DannyW

[BLOODUK]

Basically rule of the thumb... DONT boost hard in the wet stick to normal speeds as if your trying to keep to the speed limit , other than that the car handles brilliant in the dry ive had no problem thus far

[shafster]

right it basically goes like this. in the dry with good tyres, you can go hell for leather and not worry about it.... unless there is an uneven road with loads of potholes which will make the car a little unstable.

in the wet, you can easily spin the rears and if you boost hard in the lower gears, you will either spin the car if you are taking a corner or make the car fish tail down the road whilst you contemplate browning your kecks.

after you have spun it a couple of times in the wet, you will realise that you cant catch the back end once it goes and as such will begin to take it very easy in the wet. i guess it's different for everyone but i generally always played it safe in the wet after having a few fishtails and a couple of spins, when i wasnt even giving it some.

[craig]

Ok, as some of you now know, I am the proud owner of a '92 gt turbo, it is on its way from Japan and should be with me in 5 weeks. However, many of you have advised me to be careful with it as a newbie to mr2 driving. Also I have read a number of horror stories too.

So whats the deal with mr2 turbo handling, in simple terms?

Will it spin out in straight line acceleration wet or dry roads?

Will it spin out in corners on dry roads?

will it spin out in corners at low speeds on wet roads?

If you keep the revs below 3500 rpm in the wet will it be ok? [-o<

How can a powerful sports car have been matched to a chasis that handles badly, or have I got it wromg?

Please clarify this for me

See my answer to your other post

[Lauren]

How can a powerful sports car have been matched to a chasis that handles badly, or have I got it wromg?

Please clarify this for me

Its not a bad chassis, but its not a brilliant one either. The upshot is that its a chassis which does not suffer fools gladly.

Personally I don't like the way the turbo intergrates with the chassis. It really can catch out the unwary. Having said that you can still drive it quickly in the wet for example, but you need to have the necessary skills to control it, whether that be innate or learnt.

It is a harder car to handle than your typical front drive hot hatch.

[steve b]

they handle great if i'd have had enough power i'd have kept up with an STI RA round track that had a more experienced driver than me, thats good enough for me.

[GeoffC320]

Basically just be smooth with both throttle and steering. Don't back off in corners and don't plant the throttle too early. In the wet, same as the above but more so!

You certainly don't need to drive like a granny in the wet, but don't try to run before you can walk.

My own car runs just under 270 bhp at the rear wheels, and the only problems I've had with wet weather handling is when I've put off changing the rear tyres that little bit too long . I find anything less than 4mm tread or so tends to make it a bit 'lively' .

Having said this, I've been driving for 17 years, most of it in rear-wheel drive cars with fairly poor grip-to-power ratios . I guess it's easy to underestimate the value this experience can give when taking on a car like the turbo.

When it comes in, check the brand & condition of the tyres, get the geometry checked and at least you know you'll be starting from a sound footing. Any other questions, you know where to find us!

[Guest]

The tyres play a massive part in it all and there's also the discussion about suspension changes between Rev 1 and later Rev tubbies which is somewhere I'm not going in detail, off the top of my head I don't know what changes were made - other than some people prefer Rev2 and later while others prefer Rev1.

My Rev 1 was modified (dyno plots are on Dinos web site) and ran with fairly healthy torque. On Yoko A022's it would spin up the wheels in the wet for any reason and in the dry if the road was a bit rough. It was tamed with Eagle F1's but would still happily spin them up in the wet.

Talking about pure handling - I prefer my Mk1 NA to my Tubby but that's just personal taste. I had no problems at all driving the Tubby in the snows we had here watching 4WD and others sliding downhill past me. Just had to be smooth with all the inputs - throttle, brakes and steering and it was fine no matter what the weather was like.

I'd say it's also worth remembering that in the lower revs the boost isn't up to its normal level so the torque generated will increase without any additional throttle if you lead the throttle too much (as the boost catches up).

Any car needs a degree of respect and while it's fairly easy to throw any car off the road I think it's fair to say powerful RWD cars need a tad more respect.

Cheers,
Si.

[ENSMR2]

It's reputation is the same as a Porshe. It'll bite back hard.

I've had 2 turbo's and I haven't spun one. Fingers crossed now!

Bottom line is you need to respect a car like this. It has a very thin line between handling on the limit and beyond.

Dont accelerate through corners dont lift off the gass in bends either.

If you get in to a slide you'll need opposite lock but be wary of snap back over steer. Basically you will correct the slide but the back end will now deel like going in the other direction, If your not carefull, it will.

Take it real easy in the wet. You need to be a competent driver to drive one of these fast. Unlike scooby/evo's where the car will do most of the work.

I personally feel they handle really good. They have a rep for biting back which give it alot of bad "press".

[Essex MR2]

I only picked mine up recently and first impressions on the 4.5 hour drive home were that it was really well balanced, found myself taking bends at higher speeds than usual and the car didn't even feel like it was trying... and this was in 'damp' conditions. Unfortunately I did spin it on the way home, but as I've posted before, it wasn't all my fault.... but when they go, they go quickly. I used to have a RWD Sierra Cosworth that I would happily fishtail and hang off of roundabouts all day long, but there's something about having the engine in the middle that when it starts to spin, the back overtakes the front before you know it!

It is a great handling car, just stick to the advice everyone else has given. Take your time learning it, don't accelerate hard out of corners, and don't lift off mid-bend.

Trust me, you'll love it.

[Azz]

Don't get Yokohama A509 I had them and could spin the rears in the wet on the motorway in 4th, and set of on a damp road and you sit there for about 20 minutes just spinning, changed the lot to Falken F451's and shoved a wider tire on the back 235/40/17 and all is fine,

I smashed mine up on a hot sunny day doing a power slide turbo kicked in and I smashed the passenger side of the car on both side's of the road and cause £8000 worth of damage according to Toyota, fixed the lot for around £1800, I smashed, twisted,bent, or broke every part of my suspension, and snapped 2 alloys in half, but its back on the road and no more power slides, I don't know if Mr Canny remembers the picks I showed him at the Manchester meet? but it was bad

This is what I broke

Front:
Alloy wheel, tire, hub control arm, stabilizer bar, wheel baring, twisted spring, damper bent 12 degrees, steering rack arm bent, stabilizer mounting bracket,

Rear
Alloy wheel, tire, hub control arm, stabilizer bar, damper bent 20 degrees, tie rod, drop link, ripped a hole in the sub frame type thing holding my suspension up (don't know what its called,



Moral, dont get cocky and show off asd it Will end in tears

[redeye32uk]

Ok, as some of you now know, I am the proud owner of a '92 gt turbo, it is on its way from Japan and should be with me in 5 weeks. However, many of you have advised me to be careful with it as a newbie to mr2 driving. Also I have read a number of horror stories too.

Congrat's on getting your tubby =D> I've spun mine once , showing off pulling out of a junction an putting my big foot down to early. Id owned the car for less than a day having just imported it to, found myself faceing 180 degrees the wrong way . put it down to the Yokohama A509 I had on but it was bad drivein.........a year later im lovin it an treatin it with respect as i know it "can" bite back if your not carefull.......enjoy

[Lauren]

If you get in to a slide you'll need opposite lock but be wary of snap back over steer. Basically you will correct the slide but the back end will now deel like going in the other direction, If your not carefull, it will.

Take it real easy in the wet. You need to be a competent driver to drive one of these fast. Unlike scooby/evo's where the car will do most of the work.

You will only get a fishtail moment if you put too much opposite lock on. Very common mistake to make. It never happens if you get the right amount of opposite lock on.

[Richie]

Just a couple more things to add, if you've never driven a MR car before, you will instantly find the balance completely different. I'm amazed when I jump into my MR2 after driving the wifes Golf GTi. One thing is to break in a straight line, don't try and break hard while on a corner, the back end will go if you're giving it some.

Power slides in an mk2 are very hard and you'll find you'll either pull off a small slide or spin. But from what I've found in my NA, it's quite difficult to spin.

Another piece of advice, go on a track day. You can learn so much from one because you try booting it round a corner and seeing where the limits lie and seeing how hard breaking on a corner affects the balance. When you know how to handle these, driving is simple.

Richie.

[ENSMR2]

If you get in to a slide you'll need opposite lock but be wary of snap back over steer. Basically you will correct the slide but the back end will now deel like going in the other direction, If your not carefull, it will.

Take it real easy in the wet. You need to be a competent driver to drive one of these fast. Unlike scooby/evo's where the car will do most of the work.

You will only get a fishtail moment if you put too much opposite lock on. Very common mistake to make. It never happens if you get the right amount of opposite lock on.

Yes, sorry was being a bit quick to explain that.

Re the braking in a straight line. What I do when going round a bend is point the wheels straight, brake, and then turn back in again. Kinda like a zig zag.

[Lauren]

Re the braking in a straight line. What I do when going round a bend is point the wheels straight, brake, and then turn back in again. Kinda like a zig zag.

Really? you've lost me now.

Why not brake in a straight line as you approach the bend then roll onto the throttle and balance it until you are passing the apex? I don't see why you'd want to zigzag?

[stevecordiner]

How do mk 2 turbo's handle - in the right hands very very well. In the wrong hands very badly.

Its a car you need to learn to drive quickly, not something you can just jump in and thrash.

[Richie]

If you get in to a slide you'll need opposite lock but be wary of snap back over steer. Basically you will correct the slide but the back end will now deel like going in the other direction, If your not carefull, it will.

Take it real easy in the wet. You need to be a competent driver to drive one of these fast. Unlike scooby/evo's where the car will do most of the work.

You will only get a fishtail moment if you put too much opposite lock on. Very common mistake to make. It never happens if you get the right amount of opposite lock on.

Yes, sorry was being a bit quick to explain that.

Re the braking in a straight line. What I do when going round a bend is point the wheels straight, brake, and then turn back in again. Kinda like a zig zag.

If you turn into a corner and then decide you are travelling too fast and apply the brakes, the weight will shift to the front of the car making the back end lighter. Since the car naturally is pushing towards the outside of the corner, the back end will come round into a power slide.....which isn't good.

BTW, you'd have to be travelling quite quickly and turn moderately sharp for this to happen.

Richie.

[Lauren]

actually you would be far better off commiting to the corner rather than braking.